Zion got some major love during his freshman year, but he was never considered the top prospect in his class until he got to college.

Luka had his fans, but wasn’t universally loved. And obviously went 3rd in the draft. Bagley was actually the top prospect and got a lot of love in high school. When he reclassified to that class and signed with Duke, he jumped to the top of the class and faded a bit during his freshman year.

The top prospects from the previous 3 years were Simmons and KAT. Simmons got some love, but never Lebron level. There was even some who thought Ingram was better.

Andrew Wiggins got a lot of love in high school. Embiid passed him during freshman year.

No one from 2013 was ever that high.

Anthony Davis got some of that love.

The best ones between AD and KD were probably Rose and Wall. Neither ever got the Lebron hype.

So my list of guys that got the best prospect since Lebron hype:

KD/Oden
AD
Zion - but not until college

Wiggins and Bagley had some of it in high school, but lost it before entering NBA.

So it’s really like 3 in 17 years.